Facebook: 14 million private posts become public by mistake

The mistake is a reminder of previous scandals related to the respect of the users’ privacy involving the Facebook.

The social media company said that the software error known as “bug” had changed the visibility of the posts from “friends only” to “public,” making it open to everyone, Belgrade Beta news agency, said, carrying an AP report on Friday.

Erin Egan, Chief Privacy Officer Policy at Facebook said the glitch did not affect previous posts and added that the Facebook started noticing the users to change their choice of visibility.

Last March, a corporate scandal involved the Facebook and Cambridge Analytica when the social network admitted that up to 87 million users around the world might have been affected when their personal information had been harvested and exposed.

In the meantime, Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg apologised for “harm” caused by data leak, telling the European Parliament that "whether it's fake news, foreign interference in elections or developers misusing people's information, we didn't take a broad enough view of our responsibilities."

In May, media reported that after the far-reaching scandal over mishandled Facebook user data, Cambridge Analytica was shutting down, saying in a statement that “the siege of media coverage has driven away virtually all of the Company’s customers and suppliers.”